


seekers are not always the most focused of quidditch players

by BatWingsandBlackCats



Series: Hufflepuff Seeker!Laura AU [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, Fluff, Gryffindor!Danny, Gryffindor!Mel, Hollstein - Freeform, Hufflepuff seeker!Laura, Hufflepuff!Kirsch, Hufflepuff!Perry, Quidditch, Ravenclaw!Carmilla, Ravenclaw!LaFontaine, hufflepuff!laura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-13 18:20:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5712364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatWingsandBlackCats/pseuds/BatWingsandBlackCats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>March of Laura's sixth year at Hogwarts</p><p>Laura is just about to catch the snitch...until a certain Ravenclaw catches her eye.</p><p>***Several important edits have been made along with the addition of the second chapter, so for everything to make sense, It's best to read it from the beginning***</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! it's been a while! hope everyone's having a good new year so far :) Here's my secret santa piece for the awesome kaede-multiplius over on tumblr--Hope you like it!
> 
> I have a few more things coming down the pipeline soon-ish--I have a _ton_ of fic planned for this year--and I _promise_ that TDIRAU will start up again soon. I burned myself out a little with the 12 days of Carmilla challenge, and I'm just starting to flow really well again. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

_“And they’re off!!”_ The announcer’s voice boomed across the quidditch pitch as the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams kicked off from the ground, soaring into the air. The keepers were immediately in position in front of their respective goal hoops, and within minutes, one of the Hufflepuff chasers had possession of the quaffle. One Laura Hollis soared high above the other players on her slightly dinged up Nimbus 2001, keeping her eyes peeled for that blasted little tiny golden ball amidst the snowflakes, as flashes of yellow and red darted about below her. Laura was _determined_ to catch the snitch this time. Hufflepuff had lost their last match to Ravenclaw when a bludger had taken out Hufflepuff’s keeper, Wilson Kirsch, sending the poor guy right through the middle hoop. In getting thrown off his broom, Kirsch’s booted foot nearly hit Laura square in the face, which distracted her long enough to lose the snitch to the Ravenclaw seeker. Laura was _not_ going to let that happen again. She’d ranted to Carmilla about it all through breakfast that morning while Perry tried to get her to focus on her eggs.

Laura huffed in frustration as she brushed a few stray hairs that had escaped her braid out of her eyes, and leaned forward, leading her broom in a slow circle around the pitch as she searched for the snitch, glancing over at the Gryffindor seeker occasionally. The Gryffindor seeker was circling as well, but lower, and seemed a little distracted. Laura smiled, circling the pitch a bit faster as she kept an eye out for that little golden ball. Below her, the Hufflepuff beaters zipped around at lightning speed, attempting to fend of the two bludgers that seemed a little more aggressive than usual. She tuned out the announcer’s voice and continued her careful search for the snitch.

Down in the stands, Carmilla watched the match, keeping her eyes trained on the tiny little black and yellow clad seeker, and her well-loved black broom with the three painted yellow stripes near the front end of the handle. (Laura had painted them on one night when her and Carmilla were sitting on the back porch of Laura’s home in rural Surrey, after she’d polished the handle and trimmed the twigs.) Carmilla watched as she circled the pitch, nimbly sweeping around the other players and ducking out of the way when a bludger came just a _little_ too close. Laura had joined the Hufflepuff quidditch team back in her fifth year, taking the school’s more avid quidditch lovers by surprise. Nobody expected tiny little clumsy Laura Hollis to be such an airborne force to be reckoned with, but that’s exactly what she turned out to be. ‘Tiny’ suddenly became an asset. Laura had nearly bowled Carmilla over when she came running into the Great Hall that year for breakfast the morning after she was accepted onto the team, clutching her new quidditch sweater. She’d saved up the entire summer between fifth and sixth year and bought a used Nimbus 2001 from The Broom Shop, and a few repairs later, it was good as new. 

Hufflepuff matches were the only matches Carmilla ever got excited for. She really couldn’t care less for quidditch in general. As far as she was concerned, all it did was generate loud, obnoxious crowds, and she found the entire experience quite abrasive and needless. But, it made Laura excited, and Laura being excited got Carmilla excited, even if she didn’t show it. She glanced over at LaFontaine, who sat beside her, and rolled her eyes. They’d painted their face up in black and yellow in support of Perry, who was one of the Hufflepuff chasers, and Laura, and were currently waving both arms, hands gripping a pair of pennants. (Their hair wasn’t flashing obnoxiously from black to yellow though, which Carmilla was thankful for.) Carmilla made a face as she ducked out of the way of LaFontaine’s swinging arms, and turned back to the match, searching for Laura amongst the players. 

Just as Carmilla’s eyes fell on the tiny seeker, Laura shot off towards the Gryffindor goal hoops, her robes billowing and her braid whipping behind her. The Gryffindor seeker was hot on her tail and quickly gaining, deftly zipping around the other players on his Silver Arrow. Laura glanced back at him and grinned, before setting her eyes on the little golden ball once more. Silver Arrows were good, comparable to the Firebolt even, but she was considerably lighter than him, and smaller. She leaned forward, pressing nearly her entire body to the broom handle, and gained a few more feet. 

Carmilla held her breath as she watched as a bludger came careening straight for Laura’s head, but at the last second, Laura pulled up, narrowly missing a hit that would have surely knocked her off her broom. Carmilla let out a sigh of relief, but chewed on her bottom lip as the Gryffindor seeker inched closer to Laura. Her encounter with the bludger had cost her precious seconds, and her and the Gryffindor seeker were now jockeying for position, shoulder to shoulder as they sped in a wide ark around the perimeter of the pitch, constantly banging into each other. Laura inched forward on her broom and stretched her arm out, face screwed up in concentration and her eyes squinted against the snow as she reached for the snitch that was whizzing along just out of reach.

A cheer of _“Hollis!! Hollis!! Hollis!!”_ started among the crowd of Hufflepuffs, and as the two seekers drew closer, Carmilla pressed herself up against the barrier, watching them with a worried look on her face. Laura was so close to catching it...

“Come on Laura!!!” Carmilla cheered, “Catch it!! Catch it!!!”

Laura automatically looked towards the crowd when she heard Carmilla’s voice, and the Gryffindor seeker saw his chance. He crashed into Laura one more time, but the motion, instead of knocking her off her broom, knocked her forward a few inches.

_Just_ enough to wrap her small hand around the snitch. 

“Laura Hollis has caught the snitch!!” The announcer roared, and was nearly drowned out by the din of the crowd.

Laura raised her hand in triumph and maneuvered her broom to prepare to land, but she stopped when she saw Carmilla in the stands, cheering and waving alongside LaFontaine with the rest of the Hufflepuffs. Carmilla’s mouth was open in a wide grin, and Laura could hear her cheering her name. Laura beamed and enthusiastically waved back, her other hand still gripping the snitch. Laura’s grin suddenly disappeared and a shriek escaped her lips as a particularly vicious gust of wind barreled down the pitch, knocking her off balance.

“LAURA!!” Carmilla screamed, her excitement turning to terror in a split second as she watched Laura slide right off her broom. She plunged her hand into her robes to pull out her wand, but at the last second, Laura grabbed onto her broom with her free hand, catching herself before she plummeted to the snow-covered turf below. 

A collective cry went through the crowd as Laura precariously swung back and forth, dangling from her broom by one hand. Carmilla held her breath, not even feeling the tight grip LaFontaine had on her upper arm. Kirsch and Perry came barreling towards Laura from across the pitch, but Laura managed to climb back onto her broom herself before they reached her. She gripped tightly to her broom with a shaking hand, waving with the other briefly to signal that she was okay. The tiny seeker took a deep breath to steady herself and started towards the ground, flanked by her teammates as Carmilla and LaFontaine rushed towards the stairs that would lead them to the turf. 

“Good game, Hollis,” Danny said, walking over to Laura as she touched down. Her flaming hair was disheveled and dusted with snow, as were her burgundy and gold robes, and she clutched her Starsweeper XXI in one hand and her beater’s bat in the other. Laura could tell she was crestfallen at her team’s loss, but Danny smiled anyways. “Though maybe try and tone down the heart eyes, hm?” She laughed, nudging Laura’s shoulder once she dismounted her broom. “can’t have you completely falling off your broom,”

Laura blushed deep red. “That is _not_ why I slipped!” She said indignantly, despite the fact that the red tips of her ears were not at all due to the cold. 

“Come on Hollis, you’re a lovesick puppy,” LaFontaine said, coming to a stop beside Laura as Mel stalked off towards the Gryffindor locker rooms, beater’s bat in hand. 

“And what is wrong with that?” Laura huffed, her neck uncomfortably warm.

“Not a thing,” Carmilla drawled, coming up behind Laura and sliding her hand into Laura’s. She kissed Laura’s cheek, not at all helping with the seeker’s blush. “well done, sweetheart,”

Laura couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face, and leaned over to peck Carmilla gently on the lips. “Thanks, Carm,”

“We gotta head to the locker rooms,” Danny said, gesturing over her shoulder to the doors behind her. “I’ll see you in the Great Hall for diner, yeah?”

“Yeah, see you!” Laura grinned, starting to turn toward the Hufflepuff locker rooms herself, just as Carmilla mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘if we must.’

Laura and Carmilla walked across the snow covered pitch towards the locker rooms, trailing behind Kirsch, LaFontaine and Perry. Carmilla had her arm wrapped around Laura’s waist as they walked, and she kissed Laura’s cheek as Laura hefted her broom onto her shoulder.

“Y’know,” Carmilla started out, “as impressive as your little monkey impression was, I’d really rather not watch you put a Laura-shaped dent in the turf and snap every bone in your body,” 

Laura chuckled and looked over to her, but her face fell slightly when she saw the seriousness in Carmilla’s eyes. She leaned over bumped her head gently against Carmilla’s, and then kissed her cheek. “I’ll try not to,” She promised. “You’re very distracting, though. You really can’t blame me for getting sidetracked.” Laura said, eliciting a chuckled from Carmilla. 

“I suppose not,” Carmilla said, giving the tiny seeker a look that had her ears burning in a second.

“And hey,” Laura said, her head shooting up again and a smirk on her lips. “you can’t talk to me about my flying skills when you slid right off the end of your broom during flying lessons your first year,”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “That broom was possessed,” She said seriously, glowering at the memory.

“Well...maybe,” Laura said thoughtfully. “I do remember LaFontaine saying they did something with their wand.”

“ _What?_ ” Carmilla asked, looking at Laura with narrowed eyes. 

Laura smiled at her sheepishly. “...I probably wasn’t supposed to say that,”

Carmilla looked affronted, her mouth gaping open. “That little weasel,” She hissed, shaking her head. 

“Oh come on, I think that is _adorable_ ,” Laura said, grinning. “Carmilla Karnstein, the epitome of grace, even at eleven, sliding right off the end of her broom. Wish I had been there to see it,”

Carmilla grumbled under her breath as they entered the Hufflepuff locker rooms, but all it did was cause Laura to laugh, her honey-brown eyes scrunching up in delight, and the most blinding smile Carmilla had ever seen gracing her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This second chapter was originally going to be it' own one shot, but because it takes place in the same day as the first chapter, I thought I'd just tack it on here.
> 
> All the pieces in this series span from Laura's fifth year at Hogwarts to her seventh, in no particular order, but I'll be compiling a chronological masterpost that'll go on my tumblr as well. (I may write some 'prologue' and 'epilogue' one shots from before Laura's fifth year, and then after her and Carmilla leave Hogwarts, but I'm not positive yet. I need to do more worldbuilding before going down that road.) There will probably be a fair amount of detail that won't make it into the actual pieces, so if you're curious about something like the characters wands, or some backstory, drop me an ask! 
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy!

Several whoops and cheers sounded around the Hufflepuff table as Laura, Perry, and Kirsch took their seats at their house table, each receiving a few slaps on the back from both their housemates and several Slytherins that sat at the table beside them. Laura blushed furiously at the congratulations, while Kirsch all but basked in it, and Perry humbly brushed it off. Laura had never really gotten the hang of taking compliments as gracefully as Perry. 

The three took their seats and were soon joined by LaFontaine, Danny, and Carmilla, the latter being less than thrilled by the seating arrangement after the gargantuan redhead settled down next to her, but the feeling dissipated when Laura’s hand slid into her own as the little Hufflepuff began heaping pot roast and mashed potatoes onto her plate. 

“Uh, hey D-Bear? Mel is giving you the evil eye, dude,” Kirsch said, looking over at the Gryffindor table. 

Everyone except Carmilla, who was far too busy cutting herself a piece of steak and kidney pie, looked over to the Gryffindor table, where, sure enough, Mel was shooting daggers at Danny.

Danny rolled eyes. “Just ignore her,” she said with a wave of her hand, and then reached for her goblet of pumpkin juice.

“I thought she liked us,” Laura said, confused. 

“Oh, she does,” Danny said, turning back to her dinner. “she’s just very into house team pride or whatever and probably thinks I’m a traitor by siting with you guys. It’ll blow over by tomorrow,”

“Is that why she only made the team this year?” Perry asked, taking a bite of shepherd’s pie.

Danny nodded. “The other two captains didn’t liker her attitude, but she was the best beater I saw of the hopefuls. I’ll take someone with an attitude over someone who might not be able to defend my players well,”

“She is quite good,” Perry agreed, “even if her behavior is sometimes...unsavory,”

“Relax, Perr, there’s always sore losers in sports,” LaFontaine said, waving their fork and accidentally sending a drop of chicken gravy flying.

“Hey LaF? How’s JP?” Laura asked, absently running her thumb along the back of Carmilla’s hand as she ate.

“He’s doing better,” They said, “the horns are gone, but he’s still got a pretty gnarly collection of boils on his arms,” 

Laura wrinkled her nose as Carmilla chuckled. “That’s what happens when you experiment,” The Ravenclaw sighed, disentangling her hand from Laura’s just long enough to reach for the string beans. “How _did_ you get him to agree to help you, anyway?”

“He was as interested in the results as I was,” LaFontaine said with a shrug, though they still looked a little guilty. “Oh, and he said congrats on winning the match, L, and that he’s sorry he couldn't make it,” 

Laura blushed a little. “Thanks,”

“No offense Laura, but I’m a little torn,” Danny said, leaning forward to look at Laura around Carmilla. “That was an impressive save, but I’m also not so happy with our seeker,”

“What? You’re not happy that Owens didn’t throw Laura from her broom?” Carmilla bristled, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look at Danny.

Danny glared at Carmilla. “ _No,_ ” She snapped. “I just expected a little better technique from him,”

Carmilla opened her mouth to say something, but Laura cut her off. “Guys, relax, okay?” She said. “He was playing fine, it was actually kind of an accident that I caught the snitch. He rammed into me but all it did was propel me forward enough for me to catch it,” Laura shrugged.

“That kind of makes it even better. He unintentionally helped you win,” LaFontaine snickered, though they stopped quickly when they caught sight of both Perry and Danny’s scowls.

Laura bit back a laugh and looked to Danny. “No hard feelings, right?”

Danny’s face softened. “‘Course not, Hollis,” She said. “everything aside, it was kind of funny,”

Laura didn’t hold back a laugh this time. “Leave it to me to catch the snitch by getting _knocked into it,_ ”

“Hey, at least you didn’t almost swallow it like Harry Potter,” Kirsch said with a lopsided grin.

“Huh?” Laura asked, looking across the table to him.

“Oh yes, I remember reading that in an article,” Perry said, looking up from her pie. “he stood up on his broom--I don’t know _what_ he was thinking, that is _so_ beyond dangerous--and fell forwards. The snitch went right into his mouth,”

“Whoa,” Laura said, sitting up a little straighter with wide eyes. 

Carmilla watched Laura with an amused smile as she ate, their fingers still tangled together under under the table. 

“Please don’t get any ideas, sweetie,” Perry said, looking at Laura with pleading eyes.

Laura sighed, rolling her eyes. “Fine,” She grumbled, slumping in her seat and stabbing a chunk of beef with her fork. “I won’t try to stand on my broom during a match,”

“Oh come on, That would be so cool!” Kirsch said excitedly, “Little ner-- _Laura_ could totally pull it off,” he stabbed an entire sausage with his fork and bit off the end, earning himself a rather disgusted look from both Danny and Carmilla.

“That’d really surprise Slytherin next time you guys play them,” LaFontaine grinned.

\------

After the last of the pudding dishes vanished from the tables, students slowly began to filter out of the Great Hall and towards their respective common rooms. Laura and Carmilla parted ways with the rest of the group in order to take their time walking towards the Hufflepuff common room--Laura had walked Carmilla back to Ravenclaw tower the night before--hand in hand.

“I think I have to agree with the puppy,” Carmilla said after a few moments of silence. “I think you could pull it off,”

Laura looked over to her, a smile creeping across her face. “You do? I thought you asked me only a few hours ago to be more careful on the pitch,”

Carmilla shook her head. “Careful, yes,” She said, “but I don’t want you to limit yourself, either. I think you should try it. Merlin knows I’d love to watch the look on my idiot brother’s face when you stand up on that broom of yours,” She smirked, a glint in her eye. 

A mischievous glint sparked to life in Laura’s eyes as she grinned. “I just might,” She said thoughtfully.


End file.
